A Fortiori
by Inuismyhomeboi
Summary: In order to break the spell placed upon him and his servants, a Beast, who is an enchanted prince on the inside, must learn to earn the love of a village girl or risk remaining in his animal state forever. Beauty and the Beast done FURUBA style! KxT,


**Hey!! Okay, so I know I have about ten million chapters I NEED to update, but I am EXTREMELY anxious to get this new story up...Its something you've seen before, because I just did one like it. Beauty and the Beast. Its one of my favorite stories of all time, and this time, I've found the perfect victims for my tale; FRUITS BASKET. I mean, HOW PERFECT IS THAT???!!! Extremely, that's it. Its like these two stories were MEANT to be mashed together. And thus, I am a happy writer. I know its been a while since I've done ANYTHING fanfic wise, but I have been incredibly busy, I'm part of the spring musical at school, and I've had projects out the wazoo (just finished a 10 page thesis report on Alice in Wonderland for British Literature and I have a Geometry project due soon, along with a few mini physics stuff and I've been applying for PSEO stuff...I hate school.) In any case, I promise that this version is going to be nothing like my Inuyasha version, because that would be horribly boring and redundant. Anyhow, enough gibbering...**

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**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE FOLLOWING: Beauty and the Beast, in ANY form whatsoever, I DO NOT OWN Fruits Basket, nor do I own any songs, song titles or random references to something else I may make ANYWHERE in the story. Okay, that should suffice...on with the story!!!!**

A Fortiori

_Kirra H._

Stars twinkled as far as the eyes could see in the twilight, the full moon illuminated the dark walls of The Beasts castle. The castle, once presumably uninhabited by anything but ghosts and a ghastly creature of immeasurable size and ferocity looked over a small village. It is in this small village that the tale of The Beast has transcended generations. It is a tale as old as time, some call it the greatest horror story ever heard. Some call it an epic story of true love...and some call it pure magic.

The Villagers never get tired of hearing the story, and they never get tired of telling it. The children sit in parents laps around a fire pit, waiting anxiously for someone to step up and begin. They look around for The Storyteller, and manage to find her waiting just outside the light of the fire, a thick shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Nobody knows her name, or where she comes from, but her telling of the story is the most wonderful thing anyone could ever hope to hear. She recalls things with such detail, such emotion, that a rumor has gone around that she was the girl who broke the spell. The Storyteller is old now, but if you look into her eyes, one can determine that she once possessed great beauty and still, great wisdom. She settles herself close to the fire and begins to look around at the anxious children's faces. She opens her mouth to speak:  
"I am here tonight to tell you a tale." She says, her voice barely above a whisper.

"The tale of The Beast?" a small girl pipes up.

"Yes, now hush, child, or do you not want to hear the story?"

"No! No we want to hear it! We'll be quite, I promise."

"Alright then. Now, where was I? Oh right, the beginning..." She sighs, leaning up against a rock and closing her eyes. A moment passes where The Storyteller says nothing, but soon enough, her eyes open wide and she begins.  
"Once upon a time...

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_Once upon a time, there lived a girl, her name was Tohru... She was a girl who possessed great wisdom and even greater beauty. She was very quiet and loved to spend her time reading books. Dark tales of the North, or exciting adventures had by explorers and pirates. Her favorites however, were stories of finding love... pure, simple love that captured the characters wholly, eating at them until there was nothing left for them to do but confess their undying affection for each other. She liked these best because the Girl loved to read about things she could only dream of, but know could never happen to her. She knew the world didn't run by the principles of love, but that it ran by who reigned over whom. She knew well and good that, if she were under normal circumstances, she would be married off in order to provide for her family. But the girls only family was her father, an old tinkerer who was known to be mad in the village. And this meant that she wouldn't even lead a normal life. The Girl had come to grasps with this, and made it a point to be the outcast; the quiet, unusual girl who stood out accidentally in a crowd._

_This unwanted attention led her to the eyes of the most popular man in the village. He was drawn in by her incomparable beauty and decided the moment he laid eyes on her, that she would be his bride. But his hunger drove her further away. He realized that she would be a hard one to woo, so he went straight to her father, hoping to earn his consent and take her away. But the old man wouldn't have it, he refused to force his precious daughter into anything she didn't want to do. This angered the man, and as he left the Tinkerer's house, his eyes fell upon their cart horse. The Man smiled and sauntered over to the animal, calmed it down, and released it from the ropes that kept it in the stall. The Man led the horse to the woods a few miles outside of the village and released it, knowing that without a horse, the Tinkerer would have no way to sell his crops, and thusly, no money to support his daughter. He would have no choice but to marry her off. The Man didn't know however, that his little plan would lead Tohru right into the arms of another man._

Chapter I

"Tohru? Are you home?" her father called from the kitchen. She sighed and nodded to herself.

"Yes, but I'm not staying. The horse somehow got out of her stall and I have to go find her." she said, wrapping a scarf around her neck and over head like a hood. Her father poked his head around the side of the wall and looked outside of the window just behind her.

"But its about to rain, why don't you wait until tomorrow? It will be lighter then, and I'm sure she can't have gotten far...you know Rin, she's scared of her own shadow the poor thing." Her father rambled, his glasses sliding down his nose a bit.

"Exactly why I have to find her now, can you imagine her lost in a storm? She may hurt herself, and then how would you make it to town to sell?" She commented, walking into the kitchen and filling a small bag with a couple of carrots and a few sugar cubes. The old man nodded and sat down at the table, a cloud of dust rising up from the tabletop.

"I suppose you're right. But be careful, hmm? I don't need you getting hurt either. A horse I can replace, my daughter is a bit difficult though." He said, smiling a little and patting her hand. Tohru smiled and gave her father a quick hug before pulling a piece of old bread out of the basket and walking out of the door.

Off on the horizon, dark clouds were rolling in quickly. Tohru figured she wouldn't have long before the rain came. Making it to the edge of town in a mere few minutes, she noticed that there were some hoof prints in the mud, next to a pair of shoe prints that turned around as the horse prints headed towards the forest. She frowned, knowing full well how the horse had escaped, and began her walk to the forest, hesitating a fraction of a second before entering the thick canopy of dark trees. By the time she had made it into the thick of the forest, thunder had begun to roll and rain had begun to drip through the gaps in the trees. Soon, the hoof prints were erased and Tohru lost the trail. She sighed and stopped, looking around her in hopes of picking up the trail again.

"He tells me to be careful, and what do I do? Get lost. Fantastic." she sighed, wiping water and drenched bits of hair out of her eyes.

"Ok..." she said to herself calmly. "All I need to do is head straight...the forest can't go on forever, and I may find the horse that way. Alright Tohru...keep it together." She sighed, trying to remain calm, straining to hear any possible whinnying above the rolling thunder. She began to move forward, jumping a little when lighting danced across the sky. Within that brief moment of illumination, Tohru noticed a break in the woods a bit ahead of her. She smiled, hoping that it would lead her out, and was about to move again when she heard the sound of a twig snapping behind her. Whirling around quickly, her eyes fell on a young man with a lantern, looking at her oddly.

"You! What are you doing out here? Its storming, can't you tell? These woods are dangerous at night..." he said, moving closer to her. She backed up a bit and shook her head.

"My horse ran away, I'm trying to find her, I followed her prints into the woods this morning." She explained to the man, who's eyes lit up when she mentioned the horse.

"Is she a brown horse with a black nose?" He asked, holding the light up to see her face. "Ugh, you're soaked. You've been out here since this morning you said??" he added quickly after. Tohru nodded.

"Yes...ah, to both. You've seen my horse?" she asked, stepping closer to him. He nodded;

"Yes, she came by our c...house last night, we put her in the stables and gave her some food. She's a jumpy little thing isn't she?" he asked, chuckling a little bit. She nodded and smiled.

"Yep, that sounds like Rin. Um, is there any chance you could take me to her? She'sbasicallymy fathers only source of income." She sighed, pushing hair out of her eyes again. He nodded.

"Sure, but you may want to stay the night, its impossible to maneuver through these woods at night, as I'm sure you've already found out. My names Shigure, and you are?"he asked, extending his hand to her.

"Oh, sorry. My names Tohru, I live in the village just outside of these woods." she introduced herself, taking a step forward to take his hand. However, the rain had washed away much of the dirt and there were a lot of tree roots protruding from the ground. As she pulled her foot up, it caught under the root of the tree and she tripped, falling right into the man in front of her. A large cloud of white light emitted from the man as she fell, which she passed off as lightening before opening her eyes. In the mans place was a large black dog, whimpering slightly.

"Would you mind getting off of...oh no." He said, quickly realizing what just happened. Tohru's eyes grew wide and a bloodcurdling scream escaped her lips before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the ground. The black dog shook his head and nudged his head between the girl and the ground until she was laying sloppily across his back.

"I hate this..." he sighed as he picked the lantern and her bag up in his mouth and headed for the clearing.

"I can only imagine what will happen when she comes to...What will _he_ think, I wonder." The dog sighed again, talking to himself. The storm then began to die down and the rain halted to a drizzle as he made it out of the clearing to a set of large iron gates. He nudged them open and walked inside until he reached the front door, where bricks were laying askew and ivy grew promiscuously over the hand rails and up the walls of the castle. The dog dropped the girl and pushed the large wooden doors open with his paw before pulling the girl in behind him. It was just then a young man came down the front stairs and stopped mid step, eyeing the girl with nothing short of a shocked expression.

"Shigure...wha-"

"-I know, I know." he said calmly as a white light filled the room, disappearing just as Shigure was tying a robe on.

"You're going to be in a lot of trouble, you know that don't you?" The boy said, making his way to where Tohru lay unconsciously.

"I think I can deal with his tantrums, they're not necessarily uncommon around here, you know." Shigure noted, looking down at the sleeping girl.

"What are we going to do with her? We cant leave her here. And neither you or I can pick her up." The boy sighed, kneeling down to get a better look at her.

"She'..."

"-from the village just outside of the woods. Her names Tohru. In any case, have Rin carry her up to a guest room." he said, walking off towards the stairs.

"What? Rin? I didn't know she was back." the boy questioned, turning to look at Shigure. He nodded and smiled a little.

"Turns out she was down in the village, playing pack mule for Tohru and her father." he said, laughing lightly. The boy smiled briefly and shook his head before standing up , brushing his hands off.

"She's in the stables I take it??" He called before heading out the front door.

"Where else would she be? Its Rin." Shigure called before turning down a hallway and disappearing from sight. The boy sighed and looked down at Tohru once more. He shook his head and sighed.

"Poor thing. She doesn't know what she got herself into...oh, he is not going to be happy about this at all..."

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**_Okay! First Chapter! Tell me what you thought! I'm trying not to stick to the main aspects of thestory so much, like how she got to the castle, and all that,but to make it my own...anyways, hopefully I'll get the next chapter up soon, along with a bunch of other chapters I need to update. Anywho, as I said, feedback is much desired!! Till next time!  
Ja!  
Kirra_**


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